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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26697373">In Pursuit of Sweetness</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/farfetched/pseuds/farfetched'>farfetched</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Haikyuu!!</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops &amp; Cafés, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fangirls, Getting Together, Getting to Know Each Other, It's set in a cafe, M/M, i guess?</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 05:14:31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,259</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26697373</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/farfetched/pseuds/farfetched</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Akira wasn't expecting this. He wasn't expecting to be this close, this invested. He wasn't expecting to entangle their hands in the cafe, Kenma under his arm. He wasn't expecting to hold Kenma's hand as they walk through a museum. He wasn't expecting to go home and listen to Kenma's streams, just to see what he's up to.</p><p>He wasn't expecting to like Kenma.</p><p>[Kenma and Kunimi get caught up in people assuming they're dating, just because they happened to leave a cafe together one time. Embarking on fake dating on a whim, it's a bit different than either of them expected...]</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kozume Kenma/Kunimi Akira</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>56</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Haikyuu Rarepair Exchange 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>In Pursuit of Sweetness</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Imori_Hikaru/gifts">Imori_Hikaru</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Kenma turned his auto-correct off, because he'd rather have weird typos that constantly be changing his messages.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>People are clamouring around him when he enters the coffee shop. It’s all very odd, because for all he frequents this place, he’s more part of the wallpaper than an attraction. But today, there is murmuring around him.</p><p>It might be conceited to think that it’s about him, but when people are both subtly and openly watching him, it seems like a reasonable conclusion. Why, he’s not quite certain. The only thing that’s happened recently is the same man sitting across from him most days. Akira gets here early; by the time the other man gets here, all the tables are full. It’s happened for about a week or two now, but they haven't really spoken. Making unnecessary social contact is troublesome, and seeing as the other man seems to think the same way, they’ve barely traded even a handful of polite words about sitting at the same table.</p><p>He gets his coffee like usual. The barista smiles at him more merrily than usual, and takes a little while to make his drink; Akira stuffs his hands in his pockets and glances around, watching while she grabs the salted caramel muffin and plates it up. She flashes him a grin, noticing him watching.</p><p>Yeah, it’s weird. Everyone seems to think they know something. Well, who cares, really. People will always talk, and he’s not about to ask.</p><p>Even when his drink comes back without his name on it (normal, he’s here so much they’ve stopped asking for it, instead asking if he wants anything different to usual) and instead it has inscribed on it ‘<em>congrats!</em>’.</p><p>Akira blinks at it for a second, before shrugging, and making his way to one of the back tables, out of view of most of the café, tucked into the corner and perfectly comfortable. He flicks open his book, and settles in.</p><p>Half an hour later, the murmuring in the café rises again, and that now-familiar shuffle of feet to his table. The man doesn’t ask before sliding into the opposite side of the table. Akira nods in his direction, but he doesn’t really notice, looking down at the table shiftily.</p><p>Odd. Oh well. Maybe he’s having a bad day. Akira returns to his book, and breaks off a crumb of his muffin to chew on slowly. He’s just getting to a good bit.</p><p>Only moments later, movement in his peripheral vision draws him out of the book, as he finds a napkin being pushed in his direction. Through his hair, on the other side of the table, the man nods at the napkin. Akira spies that it’s got some writing on it. A phone number, by the looks of it, and a short comment.</p><p><em>Please message me</em>, it says. Akira wrinkles his nose. He’s not about to make friends with some random man who has just happened to sit at his table for a week or so. He shakes his head, and pushes it back.</p><p>The man huffs, like he’s actually being unreasonable. When he shakes his head, it looks like one of those wobbly puddings, what with the black roots and blond ends. The man writes something else, and shoves it back, a little more force this time.</p><p><em>I need to explain</em>.</p><p>Akira just looks at it for a long moment, before deciding that fighting is too much of a hassle. He can always block a number. Hopefully the man can respect his wish to come to this café to read in relative peace. He’s not tried anything so far, although that’s no strong indicator. Weird people often start off looking normal.</p><p>Nonetheless, that’s an issue he’ll face if it comes to that. For now, he puts the number into his phone and sends a quick ‘hello’ message. The reply seems to come barely seconds after he sends it.</p><p>&gt;&gt; <em>they think we’re dating</em></p><p>Akira attempts to let that sink in, and fails. He tries again, trying to think of why. And fails, again. How can anyone think that, when they’ve barely shared ten words?</p><p>&lt; <em>Why</em></p><p>The man does at least look frustrated with this.<br/>
&gt;&gt; <em>i told some fangirls yesterday i was meeting someone to get rid of them, but you left at the same time, so they assumed we’d met up here first for a date</em></p><p>Akira glances at him, trying to work out what’s going on. Fangirls? Who has fangirls? This guy isn’t exactly the most handsome—although certainly far from the worst—and he’s certainly no idol or anything. Maybe from a new TV show?</p><p>The man sighs, and types something out rapidly.<br/>
&gt;&gt; <em>if you don’t recognise me, i have a yt channel, it got popular</em><br/>
&gt;&gt; <em>kodzuken</em><br/>
&gt;&gt; <em>fangirls are an irritating side effect</em></p><p>Akira squints at the name, which does sound a bit familiar, like his face does. A quick search soon reveals why—his younger sister had shown him some clips or something. Akira had supposed he could see why it might be fun, feeling like someone else was talking to you, but it didn’t especially appeal to him. He prefers gaming videos without the commentary.</p><p>&lt; <em>So all we need to do is correct them</em></p><p>Akira swears he’s never seen anyone look so constipated. He feels like taking a picture, because it’s a <em>very</em> amusing face. He takes another bit of muffin instead, whilst watching Kodzuken type furiously. His phone buzzes several times, and the messages keep popping up before he can think of responding.</p><p>&gt;&gt; <em>yea if it was that easy i wouldve done it</em><br/>
&gt;&gt; <em>they dont listen</em><br/>
&gt;&gt; <em>fujoshi are obsesive</em><br/>
&gt;&gt; <em>they wont believe you</em><br/>
&gt;&gt; <em>or me</em><br/>
&gt;&gt; <em>even if we told them a thousand times</em><br/>
&gt;&gt; <em>there are already threads analysing us</em><br/>
&gt;&gt; <em>its creepy</em><br/>
&gt;&gt; <em>but ti does keep them quiet</em></p><p>Ah, fujoshi. Akira might understand a little, now. He’d met a few in school, never quite completely open about their hobby but never quite quiet enough either. The few that didn’t squee <em>at</em> Oikawa, but did when he and Iwaizumi interacted, regardless of the type of interaction. He heard some of them muttering about a ‘kyouhaba wall slam’ after the Inter-high tournament, and then a furious discussion about ‘kyouhaba’ or ‘yahakyou’.</p><p>He has a little sister. He knows a little too much about this. Some of her louder friends kept forgetting that his room was right next door and the walls were largely permeable to sound. Her education in the arts of shipping had, somehow, ended up being his education too.</p><p>Akira had elected, sensibly, to never get involved with that. He’s a little curious though, about this new development. And although he’d really rather not be the target of fangirls, quiet fujoshi are always far better than loud fujoshi.</p><p>&lt; <em>That’s true</em></p><p>Probably against good advice, he looks into it.</p><p>Fujoshi are fervent workers, for sure. If they put as much effort into studying as they put into shipping boys together, the world might be in a lot of trouble. As it is, there are already three fanfictions he can find, one of which is explicit, and apparently their ship-name is either ‘Salted pudding’ or ‘Crème Caramel’. There’s a thread with a fight about that too. Akira doesn’t look too closely. They’ve clearly noticed his propensity for having salted caramel muffins and, when the cafe has it, salted caramel latte. They’re sharp.</p><p>There are also some people arguing that they should respect Kodzuken’s—and his own (although since they don’t know his name, he’s been dubbed ‘caramel-san’)—privacy. It’s good to know. It’s still quite bewildering <em>how</em> they came to this conclusion; if Akira thinks back, he does recall some girls approaching Kodzuken as he went to leave, and him muttering something. Akira hadn’t been focused on it, having received a text from Kindaichi saying he was two stops away, so Akira had up and left too to make it on time.</p><p>It really doesn’t take that much, does it.</p><p>&gt;&gt; <em>i can go elsewhere but this café is really convenient</em></p><p>&lt; <em>The muffins are too good for rumours to force me out, sorry</em></p><p>&gt;&gt; <em>the wifi is good and the coffee is good</em></p><p>&lt; <em>It’ll die down soon, right?</em></p><p>&gt;&gt; <em>maybe</em><br/>
&gt;&gt; <em>dunno</em><br/>
&gt;&gt; <em>this is the first time its happened to me</em></p><p>Knowing fangirls… arguing is only going to make them think it’s true even more. The only way is to let it wash over, or act like it’s ended. To act like it’s ended already without showing any effort isn’t really going to work, if Akira is thinking along any kind of similar lines as them.</p><p>Glancing up, Akira surveys Kodzuken, and what he knows. He’s a fairly famous youtuber, by the look of it. He also seems to own a company, and if the rumours really are true, he’s sponsoring Hinata Shouyo, which is no small amount of money. He’s certainly got more cash hanging around than Akira, just a college student in Tokyo, will probably ever have. He’s not bad looking, and the way he hasn’t tried to converse too much hopefully translates to him not being too hard work. As a company owner, he’s got to be busy.</p><p>&lt; <em>You could take me on a few dates</em></p><p>Kodzuken jolts up to stare at him when that sends, but Akira’s already typing the next.</p><p>&lt; <em>As payment for the trouble</em><br/>
&lt; <em>And to wind them up a bit</em><br/>
&lt; <em>Then we stop</em><br/>
&lt; <em>If it looks like we’ve broken up</em><br/>
&lt; <em>They might leave us alone after a bit</em><br/>
&lt; <em>And find someone else</em></p><p>Akira stuffs the top of the muffin in his mouth, the bit with a fudge piece and sticky frosting, and chews on it while Kodzuken thinks about it. It’s just boredom, mostly. He knows that those fangirls who cooed over the prospect of Iwaizumi and Oikawa possibly being together also murmured about him and Kindaichi. It never really bothered him enough to try and stop it: no matter what they do, fangirls will just do what they want. He might as well have a bit of fun out of it, at someone else’s expense.</p><p>Kodzuken’s face travels through several genres of emotion, eventually landing at resignation.</p><p>&gt;&gt; <em>doesnt sound worse than any other plan</em></p><p>Akira snorts faintly.</p><p>&lt; <em>I’ll try and be an easy fake boyfriend</em></p><p>&gt;&gt; <em>i should know your name before i agree to this</em></p><p>&lt; <em>Kunimi Akira</em></p><p>He watches Kodzuken type it into his phone, and then leans forward.<br/>
“Want to watch that movie that came out last week, Kodzuken? We can make it a date?”</p><p>Kodzuken ducks his head, then mutters something quietly.<br/>
“What?” Akira asks. He’s certain that none of the other tables can even hear this, secluded as this is. It’s a little selfish, probably. Akira just wants to get out of the movie ticket prices. He can be a trophy fake boyfriend for a little while, if it suits him.</p><p>“Kozume Kenma, but just call me Kenma.”</p><p>Akira nods. He might regret this wild streak later, but equally, that movie looked pretty good. Although not quite worth the price of the ticket.</p><p>“Then let’s go, Kenma-san,” he says, and Kenma nods.</p><p>The barista gives him a thumbs up when they leave, and there are a few people grinning wildly when they leave together.</p><p>The movie is good though, and almost worth the screechy phone call from his sister.</p>
<hr/><p>So it goes. They meet at the café, and sometimes just stay there. Kenma doesn’t mention him on the stream, thankfully. They visit the aquarium with the pricey tickets. They visit the restaurant down the road that does the really good puddings. They swing down by Hakone and eat black eggs while watching the sunset over Mount Fuji. An envious Kindaichi demands to know how he got into so many nice places all of a sudden. The threads on the internet blossom, initially, with a few pictures of them around Tokyo; one that Akira really likes is at the cat café, by another patron. Kenma had become an honorary cat tree, and was totally content to let it happen, and Akira was faintly smiling at it. Even in this short time of knowing him, he knows that Kenma doesn’t easily let his guard down—sure, he looks like he does on the streams, but it’s another type of front.</p><p>He makes that picture his background photo. The cats are cute.</p><p>In many ways, the best times are still meeting him at the café, looking up and asking if he had a good day, Kenma sliding in the adjacent side to him rather than across from him, chatting for a bit and then falling quiet, lulled into a gentle atmosphere by the ambient noise of the café, Kenma gaming and Akira reading or studying.<br/>
Being a fake boyfriend is… easier than he thought it would be. To be fair, they’re not really doing anything more than friends would do.</p><p>Again, he’s not sure why he was ever looking in the first place.<br/>
<em>they’re just pretending for publicity.<br/>
</em></p><p>It leaves a bad taste in his mouth. Partly because they never confirmed they were going out. Partly because it was only rumours anyway, and they were making assumptions in the first place. Partly because, well, he’s enjoying it more than he thought he would. He thought he’d want to call it off after a few dates, having gotten bored and done everything expensive he wanted to do. But he keeps wanting to meet up. He keeps wanting to see Kenma. He wants to see him on inexpensive dates too.</p><p>It’s a dangerous line of thought for a fake boyfriend. When Kenma arrives, he wordlessly shows the threads he’s found. It’s Kenma’s reputation that will suffer, after all, so it’s his choice.<br/>
Kenma looks at it for a long moment, slightly chewing his lip, before handing it back to Akira.</p><p>He then shuffles closer, toeing his shoes off and swinging his feet onto the sofa, and leans back against Akira.</p><p>Akira freezes. His brain stops for a moment. He expected it all to stop, expected Kenma to declare that since they’d worked it out, they ought to call it off. Random rumours on the internet ought not to hurt him too much, however irritating and hurtful.</p><p>“All we need to do,” Kenma murmurs, clicking rapidly on his mobile game, “Is give them no reasons to doubt.” He squashes in closer. It’ll be a little difficult to read, like this. Good thing this page has interesting dialogue to analyse.</p><p>“Yeah,” Akira mumbles, hooking his fingers around the book so to maintain his place with just one hand, and reaching for his cup with the other. He takes a sip, and eventually ends up watching Kenma play his game.</p><p>It’s more comfortable than expected.</p>
<hr/><p>Akira wasn't expecting this. He wasn't expecting to be this close, this invested. He wasn't expecting to entangle their hands in the cafe, Kenma under his arm. He wasn't expecting to hold Kenma's hand as they walk through a museum. He wasn't expecting to go home and listen to Kenma's streams, just to see what he's up to.</p><p>He wasn't expecting to like Kenma.</p><p>But like he does, and it gets worse every day, each time they meet, each time Kenma smiles at him, once so rare, now merely uncommon. Every touch results in a racing heart beat, every prolonged look results in heated skin. And fear.</p><p>It wasn't meant to mean anything. It was meant to be a fun pastime, nothing deeper than that. If Kenma had said no to the suggestion, he would have told him to do nothing then, because fangirls need very little fuel to make fires.</p><p>The problem, then, is that this fire has sparked and crackled into life, slowly consuming him. Just him? He doesn't know. This was always meant to be fake, but it doesn't feel that way now.</p><p>Akira wants to kiss him, and not just because the fangirls are hoping for that too. He couldn't care less about them, now.</p><p>Glancing up as Kenma arrives, he nods in greeting, watching mutely as he drops his bag, and shuffles closer. Mutely, he lifts his arm and Kenma tucks himself under like it's normal, like he was always meant to be there. Akira has long since mastered the art of reading like this—when, that is, he can focus on the written words, his brain getting gradually more absorbed in the warmth of someone sitting so close, of feeling every shift and motion, feeling Kenma's breathing.</p><p>Akira doesn't want for much, and even if he does, he generally can't be bothered to put the effort in to get it, often deciding things aren't worth it. He's all about getting by. This, and wanting it, isn't exactly just getting by.</p><p>Finding Kenma's hand, he laces their fingers together and leans his head on Kenma's. Sure, he's allowed to do this now, but for how long? If he said anything would it change?</p><p>Probably. It's not like they really set boundaries to begin with. Akira's just found that he likes this casual closeness—and Kenma hasn't declared any complaint. If anything, he's reciprocated.</p><p>If this is having a boyfriend, he wants it for real. He's almost tempted to say it.</p><p>"There's twenty threads wondering when and where we'll first kiss," Akira mutters instead. Kenma's just messing around on his phone, checking out reviews for various games and such things. At Akira's comment, he pauses.</p><p>"Okay," he murmurs, but doesn't continue scrolling. "I'd rather we proved none of them right..."</p><p>None of them? Does he not want to? Does this mean...? He's sure his hand twitches where it holds Kenma's. Akira hopes he doesn't notice, but Kenma is sharp. When he finds his voice, it's a little more affected than he wants it to sound.</p><p>"Then, what do you want to do...?"<br/>
Kenma clicks his phone screen off, plunging it into darkness.</p><p>“I'd like what we do to not be directed by the whims of the internet,” Kenma remarks quietly, and Akira freezes. That can surely only mean-</p><p>Kenma tilts his head back to look up at Akira. Akira splays out his hand naturally to hold it up. To make it more comfortable for Kenma.<br/>
"Is that to say that..." Akira trails off, not wanting to confirm it. Each second is a second he can continue to hold Kenma's hand, to pretend that this is real.</p><p>"I think it'd work better for us if we dropped the pretence," Kenma states blithely, either unaware or in ignorance of Akira's dropping heart. "It's not exactly fake, anymore, anyway."</p><p>Akira pauses in his descent. Not fake? He takes a second to look, to really look, and there; a faint colour on Kenma's cheeks, a twitch of his fingers still clasped around Akira's, a subtle clamminess. He's... nervous? Is this not what he thinks it might be?</p><p>"I'm not good at acting," Akira tries, and <em>there</em>. A quiver of a lip upwards.<br/>
"Me neither," Kenma responds, and tightens his grip on Akira's hand.<br/>
"Let's make it real, then?" Akira can't help but make it a question. His heart's in his throat. He's glad no one's watching, the cafe is quiet and the table secluded more than usual.</p><p>Kenma nods.</p><p>Elated, the threads on the internet are far from his mind when he leans down and presses his lips to Kenma's forehead. Kenma smiles at him, enough to settle everything into a pleasing glow of reality. For now, all is perfect.</p><p>And if any one of those threads do happen to be right... Well, that's their secret. Fujoshi can do what they do best—speculate.</p><p>Only they'll know the truth, and that's exactly how they like it.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I hoped you liked it! I really enjoyed writing this, even if I found it a little difficult, so I hope that you enjoyed it too!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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